Toronto: Swastikas in Jewish Neighborhood

Two swastikas were painted on parked cars in Vaughan, Toronto. Other, similar incidents occurred recently.

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Dalit Halevy, 24/08/13 22:54

Swastikas (illustration)

Flash90

An anti-semitic incident was reported Thursday in a neighborhood with many Jewish residents in Vaughan, a city in the York region, north of Toronto, Canada. According to Shalom Toronto, the swastikas were painted on parked cars off of Beverly Glen road.

Two similar incidents were reported recently in the Tornto region. Swastikas were painted recently at the Country Club in Richmond Hill. Previously, swastikas and derogtory statements were painted on the home of a Jewish family in the vicinity of Betterhurst street. Suspects in the latter incident were arrested by the Toronto police.

The Jewish lobby in Canada published a harsh reaction to the event, which it called “despicable” and anti-Semitic. It expressed its confidence that the York police would do everything possible to catch the perpetrators and file charges.

B'nai Brith, which conducts an ongoing survey of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada, also published a harsh statement of denunciation, and mentioned that a similar hate crime took place in the same region nine years ago, but the perpetrators were never found.

Frank Diamant, Director of B'nai Brith, noted that recently there has been a rise in the number of hate crimes against Jews in greater Toronto. He asked residents to report to the police about any scrap of information that could lead to the perpetrators.

Peter Shurman, the Member of the Provincial Parliament of Ontario representing Thornhill, voiced concern over the rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the region and urged police to take action to catch the offenders.